Earlier today, as his MittMobile van drove around, supposedly collecting supplies, he asked people to donate canned goods and blankets. Had he bothered to check the Red Cross website, he would have seen this is exactly what the relief agencies advises against doing. It can actually impede aid efforts.

Hey, Mitt, if you want to help, how about writing a check and making a personal donation? Or better yet, staying out of the way.

On a lighter note, check out #romneystormtips and #mittstormtips on Twitter -- some funny ones below: [More..]

"Everyone in the path of the hurricane should head to their second or third homes for safety." #RomneyStormTips

If your house is destroyed, borrow money from your parents to buy a new one. #RomneyStormTips

This is a time for bipartisanship, despite the President's bungling of this preventable natural disaster. #MittStormTips

Do not let your chef go home for the night. Restaurants are NOT delivering. #MittStormTips

That's all I have time to read, I'm sure you will find many more. While I haven't seen it, I'm sure someone thought of:

When I am President, you can rest assured there will be no more hurricanes.

Back to the truth department: Here's Romney pontificating on CNN during a Republican debate about abolishing FEMA -- he says we need to protect state's rights:

What he said:

“Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?”

"We should take all the things we're doing at the federal level and ask, what are the things that we don't have to do. And those things we have to stop doing."

“We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids,” Romney replied. “It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.”

This milquetoast, mayonnaise, uninformed 50's dad, who can't empathize with the 99% of the American public because he has nothing in common with them and their experiences are as foreign to him as Russia and China, could be our next President. Don't forget to vote. Leave him to Beaver.

take quite some time. I'm hoping for several things: first of all that those affected are given relief and the things they need to be safe and comfortable; that the people see Romney for what an opportunist he is; that it's brought to the attention of the masses that Romney wants to abolish FEMA; that Obama and his surrogates can get out the message of Romney's continued lies - such as the blatant lie of a commercial telling Ohioans that Chrysler is moving their Jeep production from Ohio to China; that Obama's efforts in the wake of storm Sandy are superhuman in the eyes of the nation; that everyone has a chance to vote on or before next Tuesday; that Obama wins in a landslide; that the GOP doesn't again try to steal a national election, and if they do then they are thwarted and the nation turns on them. Long list, but that's what I'm hoping for concerning the storm and the election.

To those of you affected by the storm, you're in my thoughts and prayers.

It serves to show how inadequate a private response to such devastation is. Canned goods and blankets? If that is all that private charity can offer, and if we had not invested in government to help handle these disasters, where would be? Canned goods are not going to rebuild piers, fix the NY subway system, and clear debris to make roads passable.

I think there is a place for private charity and we should all help our fellow man in any way that we can. But the scope and scale of this devastation requires big intervention. This is one of the reasons we have government, to serve us in times like these and to marshal relief efforts. Important relief efforts will also be led by private, professional charities like the Red Cross. But they can't replace our government.

Gov. Romney's efforts make him look small. So I'm glad he is doing this.

On the morning shows Christie talked about how available and helpful Obama and FEMA and the feds have been throughout yesterday, last night and this morning.

"The federal government's response has been great. I was on the phone at midnight again last night with the president, personally, he has expedited the designation of New Jersey as a major disaster area," said Christie, in an interview with NBC's "Today."
"Last night, I was on the phone with FEMA at 2 a.m. this morning to answer the questions they needed answered to get that designation and the president has been outstanding in this. The folks at FEMA, [Administrator] Craig Fugate and his folks have been excellent," he continued.

In a separate interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Christie added to the praise, saying that "the president has been all over this and deserves great credit."

"He gave me his number at the White House and told me to call him if I needed anything," he added.

The storm's swath even is reaching a lot of families now needing help along the Great Lakes, previously at record low levels this year.

We have evacuations along the lakeshores in several states, including mine. Living near Lake Michigan, I saw the impact of 20-foot waves this morn and still can hear, at home, its constant roar today.

Remember Lightfoot's lyrics about the gales on the Great Lakes, especially in early November (when water still is warm -- warmer this year than in most years, too -- which can whip up winds more than later in the season. And the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald went down almost two weeks later than these gales this year.

If I hear one more national TV journalist comment on Obama's response to Sandy (returning to D.C., calling governors, making sure the federal govt. actually helps those who need it) as if it is nothing more than a chance for Obama to appear presidential and, thus, burnish his credentials for the election, I swear to god I will put my foot through the TV screen.

What is the deal with these jackasses? Two that I have heard recently pushing that line are Jake Tapper(ABC) and Bill Plante (CBS). Is it really a stretch to think that Obama's response to Sandy is Obama doing his job?

You understand what functional mental retardation is when you listen to this idiot. Privatizing diaster relief? Holy sheet, aren't private prisons bad enough? I suppose not. Save people from death, but do it at cost!! I'd laugh if crying weren't appropriate. There is nothing, literally nothing, this financial pimp won't try to get phucked for money.

Good on Obama for his leadership, nothing like a little competence to relieve folks.

I have given $$ online to the Obama campaign twice now and they keep bombarding me with more requests that I can't unsubscribe to. Also I've started getting other offers for private island rentals, cellular providers, certificate programs, and pigeon forge. The election campaign people must be giving my email address to these other people...sh*t.

This milquetoast, mayonnaise, uninformed 50's dad, who can't empathize with the 99% of the American public because he has nothing in common with them and their experiences are as foreign to him as Russia and China, could be our next President. Don't forget to vote. Leave him to Beaver.

It's the time period -- The 50's and 60's -- not his character. And the physical similarities -- both are handsome in that 50's way. It was a great show, I watched every week, just like I watched Father Knows Best.

Beaumont was kind of even keeled and reasonable despite the early 60s kid mischief that might have caused other dads of that era to reach for the belt. Even on those dire occasions when the boys were called into Hugh's den for that important talk. I don't recall if June was ever called in.

I don't think any of the idealized sixties tv dads were a close resemblance to the uncaring, manipulative and somewhat psychopathic Mitt Romney. I prefer the matchup to the millionaire guy on Gilligann's Island.

One of them, photo 12, shows residents of a street in Brooklyn, gamely trying to prevent flooding. They have a few sandbags. Two people are seen trying to do something.

Then, there is photo 10 - which has to be seen to be believed.
It is a photo of the Goldman Sachs building. There is a pile of sandbags in front of the building that looks like fortifications from the era of moats around castles. And inside the lobby, well lit, one can see three or four people standing around - some of them security guards.

As I say, you really have to see these contrasting photos of the lot of the peasants and the lot of the rich and powerful.

Aren't you in Florida? Pretty sure I've seen some beach houses washed away in FL before. Maybe they build a bit differently in FL but a beach house is a beach house and has some inherent weaknesses, correct me if I'm wrong.

that's exactly how I feel too and you're probably right about small price to pay for campaign hanger-on jerks. I'm going fishing. BTW Apple recalled my iMac HD which wasn't even broken I thought. They replaced it free and it's now twice as fast. Guess it was breaking. Next a ssd for my old MBP. Gotta have something fast in my old age cause it sure ain't me.

But the real "American way" is quite different. Most disaster agencies don't want donated goods; they need cash. And in the modern era, the most important cash comes from taking people's tax dollars and distributing them in the form of federal aid to communities hard-hit by a disaster. Because that involves the federal government, it is tainted in the minds of Mr. Romney and his party. It is compulsory, and thus not an offering of the heart.

And on the hypocrisy of his ever-morphing postitions on funding FEMA:

Mr. Romney's rash promise to put a hard ceiling on discretionary spending - which includes emergency response - would mean far less money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The House budgets developed by his running mate, Paul Ryan, would cut this kind of spending even further, an idea that Mr. Romney considers "excellent."